The five-person Senate Natural Resources, Agriculture and Environment Confirmation Committee will meet Sept. 1 at 10 a.m. to consider the nomination of Amanda Smith to become director of the Utah Department of Environmental Quality.

The meeting will take place in State Capitol Room 450.

Smith was nominated by former Gov. Jon Huntsman Jr., who became U.S. Ambassador to China earlier this month. Smith had been Huntsman's legislative director, and there has been speculation in the three months since her nomination about whether Gov. Gary Herbert would back her, too.

Herbert spokeswoman Angie Welling confirmed Herbert's support for Smith earlier this month. The agency has not had a director since the retirement of Rick Sprott last December.

"Amanda Smith continues to be Governor Herbert's selection for executive director of DEQ," Welling said.